Spanos, whose family owns builder A.G. Spanos Cos. and the Los Angeles Chargers football team, developed thousands of apartment units across the United States. His family, worth an estimated $2.4 billion, is the 344th richest in the United States, Forbes magazine reported this year.

Orfanos said memorial and funeral services will take place Oct. 23-24 at St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church. A celebration of Spanos’ life will be held following the Oct. 24 funeral at the Spanos Center on the University of the Pacific campus, Orfanos added. Times have not yet been set for any of the events.

Alexander Gus Spanos — “Big Alex” or “The Godfather” to his beneficiaries — was born in Stockton on Sept. 23, 1923, the son of immigrants.

“When Alex was born the doctor slapped him and Alex said, ‘Would you like to rent an apartment?’ ” the late comedian Bob Hope once joked about his friend.

In fact, when Spanos was born the likelihood that he would someday be a real-estate magnate would have seemed farfetched. Spanos’s first job came as a child working for his father, a baker. He was 8 years old.

“I think it’s so important for people not to forget where they came from,” Spanos said in 1984. “I love to talk about my past because it wasn’t easy.”

Spanos worked his way all the way to University of the Pacific, from which he graduated in 1948. Diploma in hand, Spanos returned after college to work again at his father’s bakery — 15 hours a day, seven days a week, and a $40 salary.

“I was safe, secure — and slowly dying,” Spanos recalled in “Sharing the Wealth,” his 2002 autobiography.

He finally split with his father in 1951, borrowing $800 to purchase a truck. Spanos’s wife, Faye, started spending 16 hours a day making sandwiches that her husband would then peddle to field hands in the Delta.

He later provided housing to the workers before entering the construction business full time. His start began with rental properties, a development business that spread nationwide. It was the beginning of an empire.

“I am a competitor,” Spanos told The Record in 1987. “I am a very strong competitor at anything I do. That’s part of any success — knowing that you’re good, knowing that you’re the best and proving so.”

Spanos’s focus on rentals grew in his later years to embrace the development of housing subdivisions.

“He certainly in the beginning was not a master plan community developer,” said Stockton developer Fritz Grupe, whose firm built Lincoln Village West, Quail Lakes and Brookside.

“He called me and said, ‘I’d like to come and see what you’re doing,’ so we went over to Brookside Country Club and had lunch and I was showing him around what we’re doing.”

In his later years, Spanos’s company turned to developing eponymous subdivisions, Spanos Park and Spanos Park West, that pushed Stockton’s boundaries northward.

Beyond his life’s work as a housing developer, Spanos became known for his philanthropy and for his conservative politics.

Conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh wrote the foreword to Spanos’s autobiography, and Spanos himself contributed millions of dollars to state and national candidates. He was a friend of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and President George W. Bush used his jet in the 2004 presidential campaign. Spanos told The Record in 2005 that he was a friend of every Republican president since Gerald Ford. He also was a significant player in local politics, giving thousands of dollars to mayoral, City Council and San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors candidates.

Faye Spanos is credited with steering her husband toward the philanthropy that benefited the arts, education and medical care in Stockton.

His name is stamped across the city, from the Spanos Jet Center and Spanos Sports Center to his corporate offices in Spanos Park West.

Spanos was a major contributor to University of the Pacific and a wing of Dameron Hospital’s outpatient center was named for him.

Additionally, Spanos Elementary School in south Stockton bears the family name, and the Spanos family donated millions of dollars toward the Lincoln High School stadium and press box and baseball field house. The Spanos family also opened their home for an initial fundraiser for what is now the Lincoln Performing Arts Center.

Spanos Elementary Principal Danielle Valtierra said Tuesday, “He’s a wonderful namesake for our school — his upbringing, work ethic and dedication to our community. His family has been extremely generous and supportive of us.”

Spanos Elementary is closed this week for autumn break. Valtierra said her school will honor its late namesake once it is back in session.

At Lincoln Unified, Superintendent Kelly Dextraze said, “I am saddened to hear of Alex Spanos’ passing. The Spanos family has provided generous support to our programs for decades. ... We are proud to have their children and grandchildren among the alumni of Lincoln High School and appreciate their many philanthropic efforts throughout our community.”

Spanos also directed his generosity toward the Stockton Symphony, Conductor Peter Jaffe said Tuesday.

“They were very instrumental in the arts community,” Jaffe said. “And we just really appreciated them. He had an enormous impact on the community.”

Spanos became close friends over the years with comedian Bob Hope, who would perform with Spanos at benefit events.

“He started to teach me how to sing,” Spanos told The Record after Hope’s death in 2003. “I wasn’t a hoofer or a singer. But he made a real hoofer and singer out of me.”

Douglass Wilhoit Jr., CEO and executive director of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, recalled Tuesday, “The thing that stands out the most is watching (Spanos) and Bob Hope do the soft shoes. Yes, he was a businessman and a tough businessman. But there was a softer-kid side of him that I saw with that soft-shoe performance with Bob Hope.”

Dancing with Hope was light years from Spanos’ humble beginnings. In 1984, Spanos told a reporter the key to his success was simple.

“The only thing that distinguished me from a million other dead-broke bakers,” Spanos said, “was desire.”

Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @rphillipsblog.